The "Games telling Stories?" Blog: Part 2

This is a continuation from the previous post :) ...

2. How is time represented in the game? Is there a separation of story and discourse time? How does the game’s use of time allow for interactivity?

In the game of FF8, time is very much represented as the unfolding and passing of events with little actual references to day and night. Alternatively, total real time employed in gameplay is shown on the menu screen but of course, that does not in any way affect that in the flow of narrative in the game :p

In terms of story and discourse time, both tends to proceed together for a large part of the game. However, there are also a number of occasions in the game whereby Squall would supposedly fall into a "dreamlike" state and relive the past memories of Ellone BUT as another main character by the name of Laguna. These moments of temporary lapse into the "past" are primarily invoked by Ellone using her special powers with the hope that Squall (as Laguana) could somehow alter the actual "past" (Eh, I hope such phrasing wouldn't be too confusing, would it ? :p). Hence, these instances in the game could be viewed as a separation of the two.

I think this is an interesting aspect of FF8 as it could be regarded as a somewhat counter-example to what is suggested in the reading by Juul, that is about how players could never influence anything that has already happened and hence, the sequence of events depicted in games would always tend to be in chronological order. Furthermore, although the order and depictions of events in the game are very much pre-determined, by allowing the player to "participate" in these events regardless of where they are located along the timeline, such would provide some level of interactivity to the players but the extent of it, is again subjective from individual to individual. In addition, the sense of "being able to go back and influence the past" provides a strong feeling of narration to me as a player as well, I think.